> chemistry > divers-organiques > cubane-chemistry > cubane-synthesis > i-lost-the-cubane-race-still-going-though-cubane-ep-15-extractions-ire

I lost the cubane race (Still going though!) - Cubane Ep. 15

Extractions&Ire - 2023-06-25

We make some diketone after being inspired by @Chemiolis  beating me at this project and sayingn mean things about me (justified). Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ExplosionsAndFire/
Join the Discord!! https://discord.gg/VR6Fz9g
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ExplosionsandFire

@matthewnardin7304 - 2023-06-25

How to make cubane:
Step 1. Act like you can't make cubane
Step 2. Do that for 3 years
Step 3. A different YouTuber sends you cubane
Step 4. Enjoy your cubane

@whatbuttondoipush - 2023-06-25

step 4.1 play Technology Connections theme during credits lol

@RyanEglitis - 2023-06-25

It's an obscure biological reaction, but it works!

@andersjjensen - 2023-06-25

@@whatbuttondoipush Yup. That one had me in stitches too.

@florisvideler - 2023-06-26

Work smarter, not harder

@stevenjacobs2750 - 2023-06-26

The true path of the internet: be wrong until someone is compelled to be correct.

@marcinmaj1239 - 2023-06-25

A samurai has no goal, only path

@Schismarch - 2023-06-25

Death is a feather, cubane a mountain

@lordkizz - 2023-06-25

Surely a samurai's goal is the path?

@ging35zid - 2023-06-25

Just like Einstein said
If you judge a fish by its ability to produce cubane it will live it's whole life in cubane so cubane cubane cubane

@berrieds - 2023-06-25

I saw that film. Tom Cubane.

@zenthras7460 - 2023-06-25

@@SchismarchIs this a WoT reference?

@GanjaBudsies - 2023-06-25

Seeing Tom in a hoodie instead of a labcoat was like finding out that your teacher doesn't live at school

@whompronnie - 2023-06-25

Woah woah wait, what do you mean? Of course Mrs. McKinley lives at school. Where else would she be? She's the teacher. 😭

@hexapodium - 2023-06-25

2:40 : "a novel sociological method for cubane synthesis: becoming a meme and then getting colleagues to ship you their product instead"

@obst3085 - 2023-06-25

at some point you don't even feel a sliver of shame accepting it, and that is valid

@paulm.8660 - 2023-06-25

Probably won't pass peer review for Nature, but The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Social Chemistry would print that in a heartbeat

@word6344 - 2023-06-25

This should be submitted to the Journal of Immaterial Science

@gluesniffingdude - 2023-06-25

Time for me to scoop this paper

@ficolas2 - 2023-06-25

When Tom started this series I was on my first year of chemistry undergrad, and barely understood the reactions.
Now I have almost 20 years of experience in the pharma industry, having published numerous papers.

@notamethdealer - 2023-06-25

I usually dont understand a thing he says but I like to pretend that I do

@Duda286 - 2023-06-25

no joke, when I started watching him, I knew nothing of chemistry at all, not even highschool shit. Now I watch a ton of other chemistry yt channels and I'm doing both organic chemistry and general chemistry classes. I never thought I could go this path back then.
Thank you Tom.

@andrew-vl7gu - 2023-06-25

>Now I watch a ton of other chemistry yt channels

@@Duda286can you share some good ones?

@joshuaporter1905 - 2023-06-25

@@andrew-vl7gu NileRed and NileBlue are two good ones (same guy)

@sammiller6631 - 2023-06-25

@@joshuaporter1905 Don't forget NileGreen!

@Another_Online_Alias - 2023-06-25

Holy crap, congrats on FINALLY finishing the thesis.

@ExtractionsAndIre - 2023-06-25

Thanks mate, it’s about damn time!!

@Another_Online_Alias - 2023-06-25

@@ExtractionsAndIre I have no doubt that we’ll get a video on it at some point but have you decided what to do in future?

@SlamminGraham - 2023-06-25

Now the real fun begins!

@moos5221 - 2023-06-25

@@Another_Online_Alias i think he mentioned that he is already working, for a few years already if i'm not mistaken. think he wasn't able to talk much about it, probably working on something like the manhatten project.

@Pow3llMorgan - 2023-06-25

Yeah that's my main take away from this vid. A congratulations is in order!

@insomniasnacks6610 - 2023-06-25

All that ice cream on the main channel only to end up SCOOPED!!!

@trevorday7923 - 2023-06-25

Well, maybe the real cubane was the friends we made along the way ❤

@martykopka - 2023-06-25

ha ha!!!

@yiwensin5913 - 2023-06-25

But what if the friends synthesis tars up or goes yellow?

@gfhrtshergheghegewgewgew1730 - 2023-06-26

then the product is ruined and you have to throw out those friends and restart the synthesis with new friends

@thebogsofmordor7356 - 2023-06-27

@@gfhrtshergheghegewgewgew1730 What if the ruined product was the friends we made along the way?

@robsonez - 2023-06-29

​@@thebogsofmordor7356what if the tar was the glue that binds the friends together?

@rnedisc - 2023-06-25

You see. You can try and make cubane in a lab. But I want the cubane from the guy in a backyard meth shed that cools his reflux reactions with green mold water and has an ancient brick to weigh down his metal stand. You might not like it but this is simply what peak chemistry looks like!

@frijolesgalore8999 - 2023-06-29

Agreed!

@antibull4869 - 2023-07-01

It’s peak science.
Science is not about quality control (that would be… quality control). It’s about pushing the limit to see what is possible.
It always has been.

@Stumpy-tp4gn - 2023-06-25

Doing chemistry in a shed,,,,in your backyard......during a thunderstorm...........real mad scientist vibes! Nicely done!!

@N3onDr1v3 - 2023-06-25

All thats missing is the evil laugh

@joshc5613 - 2023-06-28

​@@N3onDr1v3with the level of insanity this project seems to be driving him to, I'm sure that's on the way

@AnonNopleb - 2023-07-03

That's probably the secret to the better purity of Tom's diketone. Chemiolis did not nearly have the optimal amount of air humidity and natural ozone from lightning in his lab atmosphere. Not to mention the correct species of algae in the cooling water

@Energetics_Testing - 2023-07-29

​@@AnonNoplebthe moldy water is very important to us shed chemist 😂

@ExtractionsAndIre - 2023-06-25

My favourite part of this video is nearly getting struck by lightning and then just not bringing it up. Anyway, check out Open Sauce here: https://opensauce.live/

@simonscott1121 - 2023-06-25

Daily occurrence in Oz

@Yostuba - 2023-06-25

How many felonies do you plan on breaking, in this live preformance? And do you think customs&immgration will even allow you to step foot in America when being on 3 dozen watchlists already?

@ridderjaim3 - 2023-06-25

Even the weather is hostile to human life in o'l Australia it seems

@someirishkid9241 - 2023-06-25

@@Yostuba wh... what? I don't think anything he's doing here is illegal.

@somebloke87 - 2023-06-25

I did wonder if it was wise to stand there touching a sheet of metal in the middle of that... but Oz gon' Oz ig . 🤷‍♂

@droppedpasta - 2023-06-25

You’re still my favorite physicist-run chemistry channel. If I wanted to see chemistry done properly I’d go back to school

@Mikemk_ - 2023-06-25

Ouch

@HammyJamPants - 2023-06-25

... or at least get out of the shed.

@humphreybumblecuck5151 - 2023-06-25

They have no heart!!!
-sobbing Italian man

@Sniperboy5551 - 2023-06-25

The allure of Tom’s channel is seeing him make do with what he has. I’m not even a chemist and I can appreciate his work, it’s an art form.

@robsonez - 2023-06-29

It's the Aussie way. Have half a clue and make it f work

@j2kerrigan - 2023-06-25

Chemiolis isnt working in an abandoned meth lab like you though. He's actually got quality equipment. We wanna see you do this 💯

@UnitSe7en - 2023-06-27

It's not abandoned.. He still works there...

@sinisterthoughts2896 - 2023-07-01

​...sometimes... between six month gaps.

@jerryseinfeld6283 - 2023-06-25

Goddamn do i love these videos, you may not have been the first YouTuber to pull it off, but you'll be the first YouTuber to pull it off using mold water and vibes

@kti5682 - 2023-06-25

Also a great selection of background music.

@Breakingcraft - 2023-06-25

The Cubane war is not yet over! Keep going!

@Akrucious - 2023-06-25

There is a lot of evidence to show they care far more about their YouTube revenue than making Cubane, lmao.

@bobworthier7999 - 2023-06-25

@@AkruciousNo way! People who make youtube videos want those videos to do well?! 😨

@ack7956 - 2023-06-25

​@@bobworthier7999 Ikr, it's always such a shitty response because, like... It's literally their job? They kinda need to, y'know, get paid for it?

@vindik8or - 2023-06-26

The other guy didn't even care if his chemistry turned out yellow. You got this, dude.

@robsonez - 2023-06-29

Yeh what a f savage... fk yellow

@Valdagast - 2023-06-25

8:16
Oh the weather outside is frightful,
but the cubane's so delightful
UV makes reaction go
Let it glow, let it glow, let it glow

@Dank_Lulu - 2023-06-25

I started a personal project some 6 years ago, thinking I'd take me 6 months and I'm smack-dab in the beginner stage with no results in sight. Boy, do I feel that 'it's been 3 years' on a spiritual level. PS: grats on the thesis!

@vappyreon1176 - 2023-06-25

Upload ur progress online so someone can do it before you /hj

@EldritchCypher - 2023-06-25

Giving me Technology Connections flashbacks every time that song comes on! 😂

@Aquatarkus96 - 2023-06-28

Crazy to me how a random stock music track can become a memorable theme song when used by a quality creator

@mitchellr6819 - 2023-06-25

“Ring it by it’s little neck”
Tom, getting particularly aggressive now that his thesis is finished

@petevenuti7355 - 2023-06-25

It seems to have scared the tar away!

@Disestablishme - 2023-06-25

I graduated high school, had 9 jobs, 2 kids, several homes, retired and died by the time you finished this synthesis

@Deathbyreality1 - 2023-06-29

Im already ded 💀

@thehyperscientist1961 - 2023-06-25

Imma truly be honest. I think it's good that Tom wasn't the first amateur to synthesise cubane. Chemiolis's work-up, even though was at an amateur prepatory scale, was more professional (mainly because he purchased many of starter chemicals)

Now proven that such a reaction is possible, Tom can now move forward to make this cubane pathway virtually 100% DIY (seeing that he's making all the starters himself at a shed in the Australian outback, it's almost giving me Dr Stone vibes from the conditions he's in). Time for TRUE OTC CUBANE

P.S. This cubane series is starting to remind me of Nurdrage's OTC pyrimethamine synthesis series, what a journey that was

@yorkshirechemist - 2023-06-25

it also helps that Chemiolis has access to an extraordinary range of chemicals, and almost certainly buys them as a registered business rather than an individual
the Barton-type decarboxylation he used in the last step of cubane proper is not accessible to most amateurs, since pyrithione is very hard to get hold of; the classic Barton procedure is even less accessible to amateurs, as all three reagents (pyrithione, AIBN, tributyl tin hydride) are hard to acquire

@DRChupacabrah - 2023-06-25

yup. homeboy's video, while in good fun, didn't really touch on the DIY aspect of T-Bone's converted-barn chemistry.

@tuff_lover - 2023-06-25

@@DRChupacabrah Chem's vid exist to dab on E&I, is all. Sucks it has to be this way.

@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 - 2023-06-25

I wonder if Nurdrage realized that Martin Shkrelli was giving pyrimethamine away for free to any patients that couldn't afford it when he started the video series? It was only the insurance companies that were paying the inflated price, great series of videos though.

@thehyperscientist1961 - 2023-06-26

@@DRChupacabrah After this, we're gonna have two chemistry creators showing how to do cubane synthesis. The normal way, and the "fun" way

@phimuskapsi - 2023-06-25

Tom's back!

Don't feel bad, Chemiolis isn't doing chem in a shed like a proper backyard chemist. Mega congratulations on getting your thesis accepted!

@Chemiolis - 2023-06-25

But I do 😭

@phimuskapsi - 2023-06-25

@@Chemiolis Ok, maybe you are just less sh*tposty 🤣

@phimuskapsi - 2023-06-25

@@Chemiolis PS - You still deserve massive credit too, you have achieved something amazing! I was just trying to prevent Tom from sobbing into his reaction mixes. ;)

@arglebargle42 - 2023-06-25

1) Your thesis is a lot more important than being a 1st cubaner. 2) Freaking love how you handled the news of being scooped, absolute King!, and 3) The reason I keep coming back to your channel is the human aspect. There are a lot of very dry and sterile chem channels out there and they're nice, though I love the little parts where you share your life and experiences.

@robsonez - 2023-06-29

Dry and sterile? Fk your polite. Let's be honest. Nile is pretty good, rest are dog shit. This channel is a masterpiece. You can't pay for this kind of production, ad lib and manic presentation. It's genius.

@nf4x - 2023-06-26

Undoubtably the finest Australian shed-based physicist-run chemistry channel on YouTube. I may almost be sad when he finally produces the desired cubes. This series has been the gift that has kept giving for literally years.

@tomlutman2041 - 2023-06-25

The biggest part of the challenge wasn’t making it, it was making it out of readily available store bought products. That in itself is the bigger challenge, along with uncontrollable environmental conditions. I don’t recall the other guy picking bugs out. He just opened a bottle of guaranteed product and followed a recipe. That’s cheating.
There’s a difference between using a box cake mix and starting off by growing your own wheat

@joshbevill1770 - 2023-06-25

Agreed.

@petevenuti7355 - 2023-06-25

I wouldn't call it cheating, though , if it was me I'd Sure feel like cheating ... But yeah, there's scratch, and then there's scratch @htme style!

@tomlutman2041 - 2023-06-26

Don’t get me wrong, chemiolis is good, doing his research and trying meeting yields with seemingly no time constraints and lab grade reagents. It’s not what the home chemist can do. Id really like to see him follow Toms route, not that he couldn’t do it, but if he was willing to commit the time and effort, and piles of dirty glassware

@AsmodeusMictian - 2023-06-26

14:20 - The forbidden milkshake.


My guy, I haven't laughed so hard in months. This whole thing has been awesome and I'm so glad to have been along for the ride thus far :D

@Ntrpy_ - 2023-06-25

I was going to say I can't believe i've been watching this series for 3 years and he still wasn't able to synthesize cubane first...but that's just about the most on-brand thing that could have happened! Love the vids, and congrats on your thesis!

@erkmerkk2950 - 2023-06-25

Hey man. Congrats on writing your physics PhD.

@charlescoult - 2023-06-25

It's OK, I don't watch your series for the chemistry - I watch it for the mildly scientific comedy 😂

@TheOriginalFaxon - 2023-06-25

I saw that video pop up on my feed even tho I don't sub to his channel, sad day but hey at least you were working on something legitimately productive. I've been following you for so long doing this and I just want to watch you doing it before anyone else, screw them! No but seriously though well done to Chemiolis, it's clearly not an easy synthesis, and that's fucking awesome of him to send you samples of everything you need to help confirm your own synthesis, dude's a good guy for that, mad respect for looking out for a fellow youtuber like that. I'm still gonna wait to watch it until you get it done lol.

@robsonez - 2023-06-29

Lol I feel like it was ultimate diss to make it and send it

@Lizlodude - 2023-06-26

8:15 So if the product gets struck by lightning, would that generate enough UV? 😅
14:20 Forbidden iced coffee

@kyrab7914 - 2023-11-05

Glad I'm not the only one thinking coffee poison

@vurtua7 - 2023-06-25

Yo whoever got that tattoo is quite literally a fucking legend who knows how to stay with a bit.

@will2fite34 - 2023-06-25

The cubane saga is truly riveting television

@konomexplays - 2023-06-27

The thunderstorm and door not quite covering the hole properly was a nice touch.

@amandeep-pn6ml - 2023-06-26

I'm down for a multi hour video of just that ambient shed during the rain, I feel like it'll be the best sleep I've had in years.

@travisthesutherland - 2023-06-25

But your videos are the best because they are most like how my lab would look if I tried to do chemistry. Mold in the cooling water and 3 years to not finish a project just speaks to me on a very personal level. Keep it up man. Best channel on YouTube!

@carrotwine3649 - 2023-06-25

Every time you upload you make my day
So don't think about loosing or winning much, you're making people's lives better man

@HammyJamPants - 2023-06-25

That sounds like loser talk. Tom still has the "first to synthesize cubane in a shed in the rain using plastic cups and forks" title in the bag!

@PeterAmbos - 2023-06-25

Congratulations on the thesis! I also finished a thesis today – my bachelor's thesis. You started this project when I started studying (actually technically even a bit earlier).

@terribleterrier1685 - 2023-06-25

If it matters, I think I enjoy watching your trial and error jank than Chemiolis' perfect technique. Watching Chemiolis is definitely informative and more akin to a lab demonstration back in Organic Chem. Keep it up dude and congrats on the thesis. I personally failed to complete mine in Biology so mad props.

@robsonez - 2023-06-29

I cant even listen to old mate chemoloololsis. How you can you learn let alone be entertained by monotone indistinguishable european english text to speech audio? I want to see shit go wrong. That's what learning is. A whole bunch of errors till you succeed at the thing. Variables make it spicier too.

@Chemiolis - 2023-06-25

I see you took your revenge by butchering my channel name 😞

@ExtractionsAndIre - 2023-06-25

Good to see you here my friend Chemmolios

@Derkenblosh2 - 2023-06-25

🤣

@auli5786 - 2023-06-25

​@@ExtractionsAndIreI thought for over a month it was chem-oils, so it's fine

@jordanliszewski6549 - 2023-06-25

You gained a subscriber

@stick-Iink - 2023-06-25

Chemoioiooiioooliis

@FreeTacozYT - 2023-06-29

Tom will still be the first person to do this using standard containers and cutlery you'd find in the lab breakroom

@simonthekindcutthroat6324 - 2023-06-25

I find it fascinating how everything in your videos looks like its from a scrapyard. Rusty hot plates, moldy tubing, yellowed plastic appliances, UV shredded cups and spatulas, rusted and crumbling funnel holders... Even the building is crumbling concrete and tin. It's beautiful.
Truly, you encapsulate the spirit of using it until it falls apart, a real eco warrior!
(Except for literally using the atmosphere as a bin for noxious crap, but we can't be perfect)

@gfhrtshergheghegewgewgew1730 - 2023-06-26

listen, the atmosphere is nature's ocean for throwing away noxious gasses, just like how the ocean is nature's ocean for throwing away used car batteries

@Jeffry_Ab - 2023-06-26

Chemistry and electricity are the closest thing we have to magic, and you are probably the coolest mad wizard I've seen, also that shed has some crazy wizard tower vibes.

Pd: gratz on your thesis

@DerHenker_ - 2023-06-25

I can say from personel experience that algea decrease the cooling potential a lot. but what you have is fine. I once cleaned several coolers which were not seethrough anymore. One solid film

@christopher7539 - 2023-06-27

8:29 Me just sitting here anxiously awaiting the inevitable Australian lightning strike on your shack, and the genesis of the world' first superhero, Extractionman, and his arch nemesis Tarion.

@serpensinfinitus2719 - 2023-06-25

Chemiolis may have been the first to make it, but your series is more wholesome and entertaining.

P. S. Congrats on writing your thesis!!!

@gsuberland - 2023-06-26

Congrats on completing the thesis! I remember chatting with you before about likely undiagnosed ADHD so massive respect for getting it done - self-directed long-timeline tasks like that are brutal.

@ajrupert5639 - 2023-06-25

Love how light hearted everyone seemed to be about this friendly challenge

@hoggif - 2023-06-25

After seeing couple versions of making cubane, I'm now so exited to see if this will go well now.
None of the ones I've seen have been from hardware store chemicals only, as expected. You have still a change of being the first one on that!